


bloom like flowers (in my chest)

by invisiblebrad (buskuta)



Category: Henry Danger (TV)
Genre: College, During Canon, Found Family, Gen, Piper being a good sister, Platonic Relationships, Ray being his usual self, Siren and Jake Hart's Crappy Parenting, The Author Regrets Nothing, i did what i had to do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 11:08:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22602217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buskuta/pseuds/invisiblebrad
Summary: Ray stares at Henry silently, then spreads his hands in question. “What are you trying to tell me?”Henry sighs, glances down at his feet. “I guess I’m saying that – not right now – but eventually, I’m gonna outgrow this place. This job.”Or: College is hard, especially for Henry Hart.
Relationships: Charlotte & Henry Hart, Henry Hart & Piper Hart, Henry Hart & Ray Manchester, Jasper Dunlop & Henry Hart
Comments: 8
Kudos: 75





	bloom like flowers (in my chest)

**Author's Note:**

> this is basically just 5k words of henry and his friends dealing with college. i swear i didnt project
> 
> basically i just have a lot of feelings about what will happen when henry charlotte and jasper gotta go to college. also i know that ray is canonically a dumbass so i made him a dumbass here but gave him a couple of braincells. i did my best to stay true to their characters but the muse will take you where it takes you, am i right?
> 
> anyways i hope you enjoy this mess, okay bye
> 
> **edit 8/24/2020:** yes, i locked this fic. a few of my friends have my ao3 and i don't want them to know that i stan(ned) a kids' show. you can still read it if you have an account but it's just not available to guests anymore. on another but not unrelated note, this is probably my first and last hd fic, unless i get inspired while watching the spinoff. that's all, i love you, enjoy!

“And because you’re bringing it over, it’s now inverse sin, not just regular sin.” Charlotte taps in the inverse sin on Henry’s calculator with buttons that Henry doesn’t even know the use for. “See?”

“I’m seeing, but I’m not understanding,” Henry says sheepishly, and meets Charlotte’s exasperated look with a grimace.

“The hardest part is just figuring out if you should use sin, cosin, or tan. Honest.” Charlotte stands up from the couch and swings her backpack over her shoulder.

Henry watches her in mild alarm as she makes her way to the front door. “Where are you going?”

She pauses at the entryway and glances back at him. “I have an appointment with the guidance counsellor in, like, twenty minutes.”

Henry frowns and stands up from the couch, trig homework forgotten. “Why do you have an appointment with guidance?” _Why didn’t you tell me_ goes unsaid between them, but Henry has a feeling that Charlotte can read it between the lines. She is Charlotte, after all.

She shifts her weight from one foot to the other. “Because we’re seniors and I want to know what colleges are best for me for next year.”

It hits Henry like a freight train, then. _College_. Graduating high school. Sure, he’s always had a vague concept of the fact that he wasn’t going to be a senior forever, but he never really thought of college up until now. Perhaps it’s the superhero sidekick gig that gave life an _invincible_ feeling that’s hard to describe, or it’s just the naivety that comes with youth, but college never felt real until this point.

“College,” he repeats, his eyes zoning out past Charlotte.

“Yeah,” Charlotte says slowly. “College. The thing you go to after high school to find a job in this capitalistic hellscape.”

“I just – I didn’t really think of college until you mentioned it.”

Charlotte narrows her eyes. “Well, you’d better start thinking. The school expects us to start applying next month.”

Henry motions vaguely and somewhat dejectedly to the trig homework on the coffee table. “I can’t go, Char. I’m failing math.”

She rolls her eyes.

“You don’t have to be good at math to go to college, Henry.”

“I don’t even know what I want to do!”

Charlotte gives him an odd look. “Maybe you need this guidance appointment more than I do.”

Henry opens his mouth to say something when the door swings open and Jasper walks in holding a sleek, gray bag.

“Piper!” He calls as he enters the living room. “I’m here, and I brought the alcohol!”

That snaps Henry out of his panic-induced daze. “You brought the _what_?”

Jasper looks at Henry like he’s seeing him for the first time. “Oh, hi Henry.”

Henry hops over the coffee table and snatches the bag out of Jasper’s loose grasp. “Dude,” he hisses, “did you bring alcohol to my house?”

“Relax,” Jasper says as Henry rifles frantically through the tissue paper. “We won’t be drinking it.”

“Jasper,” Henry says. “What if my parents were home and they heard you yell that?”

Jasper merely shrugs. “I can give it to them as a gift.”

Henry drops the bag on the table and flops down on the couch.

“You can’t – you can’t bring – “ he scrubs his hands over his face, takes a deep breath, and starts over. “Why did you bring alcohol here?”

“Piper and I are making a new brand of wine,” Jasper explains, just as Piper comes down the stairs.

She sifts through the back, then looks up to scowl at Jasper. “Yeah, maybe when you actually bring the right alcohol, dummy!”

“Okay, I’m leaving,” Charlotte says, and closes the door on her way out.

“Guys, I’m pretty sure what you’re doing is illegal,” Henry says. “Like, Jasper, we literally learned about plagiarism at the beginning of high school.”

“Relax, _Kid Danger_,” Piper says. “It’s only illegal if we get caught.”

Jasper points at Piper. “What she said.”

Piper hurries into the kitchen, presumably to find alcohol. Henry nudges Jasper’s foot with his.

“Can I ask you a question, man?”

Jasper wanders over and sits on the couch a little way away from Henry. “Sure, anything. What’s up?”

“What are your plans for college?”

Jasper thinks for a moment. “Probably going to major in photography.”

Henry blinks in surprise. “Really?”

Jasper shrugs. “Yeah. Bordertown’s college has a good program. How about you?”

Henry sighs heavily and runs a hand through his hair. “I dunno yet. I never really thought about it, you know?”

Jasper nods solemnly. “I get it. It’s like, where does the time go? It feels like just yesterday we were in the eighth grade, and now we’re making plans for college.”

Henry doesn’t know how to explain to Jasper that that’s not what he means – that he didn’t notice the time fly by because he never gave college any thought, because this whole time it felt so unreal, like a concept so far beyond his grasp that he never bothered to think about it. This whole time, having a part-time job as a superhero made him feel untouchable. As though he didn’t have to worry about any real life problems, because being Kid Danger was like a remedy that protected him from ever having to deal with them. As though, as long as he was Kid Danger, he would never have to go to college, or find a “real” job, or start a career or a family or any of that.

Maybe, this whole time, being Kid Danger was like letting himself _stay_ a kid.

“Okay!”

Piper’s voice breaks Henry out of his reflection, and he watches half interestedly as Piper bounces into the living room holding three bottles of expensive-looking wine.

“I have Jack Rabbit, Blossom Hill, and Concha Toro Merlot. If we mix them together well, then no one will be able to sue us.”

“Piper, why do you want to start a wine-making business again?” Henry asks.

Piper turns around and glares at him. “It’s called a _winery_, doofus. And we’re making one because everyone knows that adults love alcohol and will spend tons of money on it.” She wheels back around and shoves the bottles of wine into Jasper’s arms. “Here, take these and go to the backyard. There’s a big bucket, just dump it all in and mix it together.”

Jasper doesn’t move. “What are you going to do?” he asks.

Piper pulls out her phone and starts heading up the stairs. “I’m going to make some phone calls for our winery,” she says, not looking back.

Henry stands up and motions to the bottles. “Come on, man. I’ll help you take ‘em out back.”

Jasper passes a bottle to Henry. “Thanks, dude.”

As they head outside, all Henry can think about is his predicament. Charlotte is probably going into a STEM related field, Jasper’s going into photography, and even Piper probably has something figured out already. But what can Henry do? What is he good at? Fighting crime, helping his friends with problems… and that’s where the list ends. He could either be a cop or a therapist – but he doesn’t want to be either of those things. At least, he doesn’t think he does.

Maybe Charlotte is right. Maybe it’s time he talks to the guidance counsellor.

It happens at work.

Henry and Ray are in the middle of fighting a Russian mafia boss who thought it was a good idea to try to set up shop in Swellview when Henry’s phone starts ringing.

Ray swings a heavy punch at the criminal and then stops to stare incredulously at Henry.

“You mind turning that off?”

The mafia boss stops and lowers his fists. “It’s okay,” he says in a thick Russian accent, “we can break while he takes it.”

Henry hastily fumbles for his phone in his back pocket. “Sorry – sorry, it’s my alarm. I have to go.”

If not for the precarious situation they’re in right now, Ray’s eyes bulging in shock would be almost comical. “Are you _serious_ right now?”

Henry winces. “Sorry. I’m really sorry. Can you finish this up without me? I have an appointment with my guidance counsellor.”

Ray stares at him for a few seconds, their fight with the criminal entirely forgotten.

“Why do you have an appointment with your guidance counsellor?”

Henry turns off his alarm and slides his phone back into his pocket. “I have no idea what I’m doing for college, and I kind of wanted to go through my options, you know?”

“College?” Ray splutters incredulously. “You wanna go to _college_?”

“Go to college for business,” the mafia boss interjects. “Then you can work for Russian mafia.”

Henry waves him off. “No, I don’t want to go into business. I don’t know what I want to do, though. That’s why I’m going.”

“But you don’t need college,” Ray says, confused. “You’re working for me.”

“This sounds like you two need to talk about this,” the mafia boss says. “We can fight later.”

Henry shrugs. “I mean, I know. But I was talking to Charlotte –“

“Oh, so Charlotte is behind this?” Ray demands. “I should have known that girl wasn’t a good influence on you.”

Henry gapes at him.

“What? No! If anything, Charlotte has been a great influence on me. She’s the one that made me realize that I can’t work minimum wage for you for the rest of my life, you know? I need something else to do. A career.”

“You are only paying him minimum wage?” the mafia boss asks. “I can pay you much, much better.”

“Quit trying to recruit me into the mafia, Giorgi!” Henry says, then turns back to Ray. “Listen. I have to go. You got this guy?”

Ray waves him away dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, I got this. Go. We’ll be talking later.”

Henry shoots him a thumbs up and heads for the alleyway. As he blows his gum he tries not to think about the connotations of _we’ll talk later_. Is Ray actually upset that Henry wants a future for himself?

By the time Henry makes it to his school’s guidance office, he’s out of breath and hot from running across town.

The receptionist doesn’t even look up from her computer when Henry walks in.

“Miss Burble will be with you shortly,” she says, the sentence clearly rehearsed.

“Thanks,” Henry says, and proceeds to stand awkwardly in front of the desk. Is he allowed to sit in the chairs? Oh crap, now the receptionist is looking at him weirdly.

Just then, a tall woman with curly black hair enters from a back room and smiles at him warmly.

“You must be Henry Hart, correct?” she asks.

“Yeah – yeah, that’s me,” Henry replies. Miss Burble smiles at him again and motions for him to follow her.

She leads him into the back, into a classy looking office and closes the door behind them. “As you know, I’m Miss Burble, the guidance counsellor here. Please, have a seat.”

Henry sits down in the chair across from Miss Burble’s desk, his heart racing – half from nerves and half from still being out of breath from earlier.

Miss Burble appraises him quickly, something critical in her eye. “I don’t believe it’s that windy out there, is it?”

Henry is confused for a moment, then remembers his sprint across Swellview. He runs a hand through his hair, trying to make it look half decent. “Sorry, I just got back from work. It was a busy day.”

Miss Burble nods slowly. “I’m sure. Now, you’re here to talk about your future?”

Henry shifts in his chair. “Yeah. It’s just, I don’t know what I want to do in life. Like, I don’t know what career I want to go into. I didn’t think about it until recently, and now I’m kind of freaking out.”

“Well,” Miss Burble says thoughtfully, “let’s starts with what you’re good at. Do you have any special talents or skills?”

Henry looks down at the table, suddenly feeling ashamed. “Not really…” he says. All throughout high school would have been a perfect time to find something he’s good at, like a sport or a club, but instead he devoted all of his time to Kid Danger. Maybe that was a mistake, in hindsight, as much as Henry doesn’t want it to be.

“That’s okay,” Miss Burble says. “A lot of people don’t find what they’re good at until college or later. Do you have any hobbies or anything that you like to do in your spare time?”

_Fight crime_ is the first thought that comes to Henry’s mind, but it’s not like he can just say that. “I like to help people,” he says instead.

“Really? Like volunteer work?” Miss Burble asks, looking somewhat pleased.

Henry thinks about the nine dollars an hour he’s been making for the last four years to blow bubbles and punch criminals in the face. “Yeah, like volunteer work.”

“Have you ever thought about majoring in psychology?” Miss Burble asks. “You could become a psychiatrist or a social worker, if you wanted to. They help people every day.”

Henry shakes his head. “No, I don’t think I want to do that. I don’t think I could do that. It’s just not for me, you feel?”

The guidance counsellor shrugs. “Well, what are your favourite classes?”

Henry thinks for a moment. “I don’t know. I guess I like my history class.” He perks up. “Oh! I really like my agriculture class.”

Miss Burble looks faintly surprised. “Your agriculture class?”

“Yeah. I love gardening. I went to flower camp this one time, a couple of summers ago. It was awesome.”

“Have you considered majoring in botany?” Miss Burble offers. “You’d be able to work with flowers all the time.”

“I can do that?” Henry asks incredulously. “Like, majoring in flowers is a thing?”

Miss Burble nods.

“Huh,” Henry says. “I never thought about that.”

When Henry gets back to the Man Cave, he’s surprised to find it completely empty except for Ray. Usually when he gets here, Charlotte will be sitting at the computers, Schwoz will be working on an invention, and Jasper and Piper will be doing something or other. But today no one is here, except for Ray sitting on the couch, staring at him critically.

Henry walks in and throws his backpack on the ground next to the elevator, and pretends that he isn’t weirded out by this unusual situation. “Uh, hey man.”

“Hey Henry,” Ray says casually, “how was your guidance appointment?”

Henry sits down on the couch across from Ray. “Oh, it was great! She talked to me about all of my options and helped me figure out which ones I want to think about. Did you know that you can major in plants?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s great!” Ray says, mimicking his enthusiasm. “When were you going to tell me that you’re leaving this job?”

Henry’s face falls. “Ray,” he says, “I’m not leaving this job. Not yet, at least. My grades aren’t the best, I’ll probably be going to college in Swellview.”

“Then why do you need to go to college if you’re never going to leave here, huh?” Ray challenges. Something in his eyes is different than when he usually regards Henry and his friends. Colder.

Henry fumbles for the right words. “I just – I’ve been working here for years. I need a career. Something of my own. I need something that will give me a future! I just don’t think that working here for the rest of my life counts as a future.”

“It can!” Ray says. “Why can’t it? What can college give you that being a superhero and having the best job in town can’t?”

Henry stands up. “A normal life! I can’t get married and have kids and settle down while being your sidekick and making nine dollars an hour forever! I need something for _me_. I need my own career that I can pursue and grow in and advance and change. I can’t do that here!”

Ray stares at Henry silently, then spreads his hands in question. “What are you trying to tell me?”

Henry sighs, glances down at his feet. “I guess I’m saying that – not right now – but eventually, I’m gonna outgrow this place. This job.”

He hadn’t even known that that was what he wanted to say to Ray (or to himself), but it feels right, now that it’s out in the open. It feels like a giant weight has been removed from his chest. Maybe he’s been trying to say this for a long, long time, but could only find the words in this moment.

Ray remains silent for what feels like an eternity. Then, he says, quietly: “What do you want me to say to that?”

Henry looks at him. Ray’s staring at him with a look he’s never seen before; confusion and anger and a deep sadness. Henry puts his hands in his pockets, shrugs, and then speaks.

“Just say that you’ll support me in whatever I choose to do.”

As soon as the words are out of his mouth, Henry knows – he knows – that Ray won’t be able to say it. He won’t be able to say it sincerely; he won’t be able to mean it.

Sure enough, Ray shakes his head, and says, “I can’t tell you that if it’s not the truth, kid.”

Tears are welling up in Henry’s eyes before Ray finishes the sentence. If he blinks, they’ll spill and roll down his cheeks. Henry turns around and walks back across the Man Cave and picks up his backpack.

“I’ll see you around, Ray,” he says, probably too quiet for him to hear, but if he turns around then Ray will see that he’s crying. So he swings his backpack over his shoulder and leaves through the elevator without another word.

Henry will never admit it, but he doesn’t get a lot of support from his parents. They never ask him how school’s going; they never congratulate him on acing a test or rebuke him for flunking one. They never ask how his job is going, what he does or what his friends do. They want him to go to college and that’s the end of that. They have no interest in what he majors in or where he goes. And although he’ll never say it out loud, Henry always likes it when Ray gives that support. When he asks how school went or how he did on that math test. The indifference from his parents stings less because Ray has always been there to give that support.

He supposes that he was subconsciously hoping – maybe even expecting – that Ray would give him that same support when he started thinking about college. Maybe he’d have a conversation with him about what he wanted to major in, where he wanted to go, what he wanted to do after. Henry supposes that he was borderline _expecting_ that conversation when he went into the Man Cave after the guidance appointment, but clearly he was poorly mistaken. Of course Ray doesn’t want him to go to college. He wants him to stay here and work and continue being his sidekick. Henry being here makes Ray’s job that much easier.

A knock on his bedroom door shakes him from his thoughts. He doesn’t answer, but the door opens anyway.

Piper slides through the door and closes it softly behind her. Henry looks up at her from his cocoon of blankets and vaguely notices that she looks uncharacteristically shy in his bedroom.

“Mom and Dad are out,” is all that she says for a while. Henry understands the hidden meaning: _you don’t have to pretend everything is okay right now_.

The bed dips and creaks softly next to Henry, and Piper’s voice is a lot closer when she next speaks. “What happened at work?”

Henry doesn’t look at his sister; he keeps his eyes closed shut and doesn’t bother speaking loud enough for Piper to hear. “Ray’s pissed that I’m going to college.”

Apparently, Piper heard him. She laughs lightly in confusion. “Why is he pissed about that?”

Henry shrugs, then realizes that Piper can’t see him. “I guess he wants me to stay here and keep working for him.”

“That’s just selfish,” Piper says lowly.

“It’s not like I’d be going far,” Henry mutters. “I’d probably go to college right here in Swellview.”

Piper doesn’t respond to that. They sit in silence for a while, and it’s so quiet that Henry almost thinks that Piper left, until she says:

“Charlotte and Jasper are downstairs.”

At that, Henry sits up in bed, broken out of his revere, his fortress of blankets falling around him. “How long have they been downstairs for?”

Piper shrugs. “Ever since I came upstairs. So, like, ten minutes.”

Henry untangles himself from his bedsheets and topples out of bed. “Okay, I’ll be downstairs in, like, two minutes.”

“Take your time.” Piper stands up and heads out the door, then pauses. “You might want to fix your hair. It looks like you’ve been through it.”

Henry glances up, then realizes that he can’t see his hair. “Right. Uh, thank you.”

Piper must have been able to sense the double meaning, because she smiles one of her rare, genuine smiles and leaves. Henry brushes his hair quickly, changes his shirt and heads downstairs.

Charlotte and Jasper are sitting on the couch, talking in hushed tones. They stop and turn to look at Henry as he comes down the stairs. He comes and sits between them on the couch.

“Hey,” Charlotte says, her voice uncharacteristically soft.

“Hey,” Henry says back, then holds back a wince at his voice crack.

“We just got back from the Man Cave,” Jasper tells him. “Ray told us about your fight.”

Fight might just be an understatement. Henry may have very well blown up his friendship with Ray. He blows out a breath. “Yeah. It was… yeah.”

Charlotte puts her hand on his knee. “What he said wasn’t fair. You have just as much right to go to college as Jasper and I. He should be proud that you’re choosing to take that path in life.”

Henry crosses his arms securely over his chest and leans back against the couch, feeling slightly like a child. “Well, he’s _not_.”

Jasper claps him on the shoulder. “Come on,” he says. “We’re taking you back to the Man Cave.”

When they get back to the Man Cave, Ray is laying down on the couch and Schwoz is sitting next to him, wearing glasses and writing something down in a notebook. Upon seeing them enter, Schwoz stands up and smiles sheepishly at them.

“Ehh… I will go,” he says, and exits from behind the computers.

Ray sits up and watches Henry, Charlotte and Jasper silently as they come by the couch. Henry stops in front of him and stares down at his beaten-up sneakers.

“Hey,” he says, putting his hands in his pockets.

Ray stands up from the couch and stares at them awkwardly. “Hey, kid.”

They stand in silence for a minutes before Ray speaks again. “Listen, about what happened earlier – I was way out of line. You’re going to college, and that’s a huge step in life. I should have been way more supportive than I was. I guess I just – I didn’t want you to leave, but not only because I wanted you to keep working here.”

Henry looks up at him in confusion. “Then why didn’t you want me to go?”

Ray sighs and looks away. “Henry, I hired you when you were in the eighth grade. You were _twelve_. That was four years ago. I watched you and your friends grow up and change into fine young people. I’m proud of you – all three of you – for who you’ve become, but I guess I was scared that once you left, I’d never see you again. I grew up without a lot of friends or family members. And then I met you guys, and I really didn’t – and still don’t – want to say goodbye. I was just afraid that once you left for college, you wouldn’t come back.”

It takes a long minute for Henry to process all of that. It’s not so often that Ray is that sincere or honest. “Ray,” Henry says, “of _course_ we’d come back. You’re family for us. We wouldn’t just leave and not come back to visit you or work with you again.”

“Yeah!” Jasper says from behind Henry, and he remembers for the first time since this conversation started that they’re still here. “Look, I’m only going to Bordertown. That’s only one town over; I’ll be back almost every weekend.”

“I’m going to school out of state,” Charlotte says, “but I’ll be back on holidays and during the summer, obviously. I couldn’t stay away from you doofuses for too long.”

Henry smiles. “Yeah, and you’ll still have Schwoz and Piper here when we’re gone. Plus, I’m probably going to college right here in Swellview. I’ll probably still work here until I graduate, if you still need me.”

Ray suddenly grabs Henry by the shoulders, and before he knows it, he’s enveloped in a tight embrace. “I’ll _always_ need you, kid,” Ray says. Henry wraps his arms around Ray and hugs him tight, relishing the warmth blooming in his chest like flowers.

Henry feels arms wrap around his back, and he knows that Charlotte and Jasper joined in on the hug too. He smiles to himself. College is scary, but he can handle it as long as he has these people by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> if you enjoyed please leave kudos and a comment! i love hearing from y'all
> 
> feel free to follow me on tumblr @invisiblebrad or my main @buskuta. hopefully i'll see you all soon!


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